YooHoo! (A One Piece Fan-Fiction)

7. Mother

YooHoo!

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

7. Mother

"A mother's children are portraits of herself." 

-Unknown

It felt like I'd been floating forever. It was depressingly mind-numbing, and when some corner of my subconscious recognised that sunlight was streaming through the water, my body pulled a Flipper the Dolphin on me and charged hastily to break to the surface. 

Gasping for air whilst simultaneously wiping the hair away from where it clung to my face, I paddled over to the edge of the body of water, and pulled myself up on to the closest bank, struggling with the added weight of my bag and its surposed waterlogged contents, I waddled away from my impromptu breach-birth site onto shore and collapsed onto a bench. I'd ended up in one of the parks close to the university campus of all places.  

Untangling myself from the holdalls cross body strap and removing the strands of pond weed from my fringe, I sit there reflecting on a humble park bench watching streams of light emerge from over the rooftops not far away, banishing the night. Contemplating of how I fell into another world by chance and then resurfaced in the local duck pond at just before dawn, I roll up my drenched hoodie sleeve to inspect the blemish on my arm. Unfortunately, this bizarre adventure was no figment of my imagination. Nor do I suspect, the product of a nail polish induced high, which means Gary is off the hook... just about... and if I didn't end up kidnapped or in Somalia, then where the hell did I go? 

That... thing that brands my left forearm- it's no longer an unrefined blotch; grey mars the pattern forming on my skin, the crisp lines of a 'Jolly Roger' I believe he called it- six T shaped spores protruding from the circular edge of a grinning face.  

Don't even get me started on Trafalgar Law and his cronies. The man himself is going to haunt my nightmares for some time... 

With a confused and weary exhalation of breath, I unzip the flap of my holdall to examine its contents; to top off the last bizarre experiences, all I need is Nut going bat-shit crazy over a few soiled books, but to my upmost surprise, when I delve into the sopping wet container, the interior is perfectly dry and a waft of stale paper and ink fogs my nose.  

Then I notice something weird- that strange book I'd found in the library, the one that had baffled me to no end with its wrecked exterior and misleading pull-out bounty poster, its front jacket which I had paid no heed to because of the scruffy presentation is embossed with their mark. The Heart Pirates.  

Oh no no no nononono.... 

I'd originally thought it was a journal, or a scrapbook (there had been a few illustrations dotted in the margins that mainly looked botanical, such as sketches of plants with the odd anatomical doodle thrown in for good measure) but if I can establish what I experienced alongside with this then it makes perfect sense for this to be the ships logbook.  

And I'm still confused as to why it is here and not with him.  

I must look so strange, gripping a pathetic looking volume between two clenched fists and sopping wet in the park before the crack of dawn, but who would believe me if I said I'd skipped worlds, met a madman and his followers, then was home just in time for breakfast?  

It is with that epiphany which has me diving into the depths of my holdall again, searching for my mobile phone within the pristine interior- there was one person who would understand, one who wouldn't question my sanity, or at least I hope she wouldn't.